Aunt Sevvy, what does it mean to say that the Bible is “inspired”?
21 April 2025 |
Dear Aunty Sevvy,
Is the Bible an inspired book, or simply a collection of historical and inspirational readings?
Signed, Honestly Wondering
Dear Wondering,
The word “inspired” seems like a concept that should tell us precisely how to understand the Bible—and people often use it that way. But in actual practice that word is unspecific enough that it lets each person interpret the Bible as they wish. You’ll occasionally hear someone say, “I don’t interpret the Bible. I just read the Bible as it reads.” That’s simply not true. Every Bible student, without exception, interprets the Bible when they study it.
For example, many Adventists think “inspired” means that the Bible is perfect and flawless, even in scientific matters. Some will go so far as to lift a single phrase from it and use that phrase, without context, to prove their point. We call this the proof-texting methodology, and it is the basis for most Adventist Bible studies and Sabbath School lessons. If someone did this with any other book, we would find it laughable.
Furthermore, every scholar knows that the Bible was not crafted as a single document. It is a mash-up by hundreds of writers and copyists, with ideas that originated not just among Jews and Christians, but were also influenced by ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, the tribes of Palestine, the exiles in Babylon, and later by Greek philosophy and the vast and powerful Roman empire.
Always remember this: the Bible isn’t a book by God. It is a book by human beings about God. How much more sensible our reading of the Bible would be if we remembered that! Yes, they were people who were close to God. But even in the stories about them it is clear that their picture of God was, not infrequently, quite flawed.
So can God be understood by means of that book? Aunty thinks so. From imperfect human beings who have walked with God we can get a picture of God—but it’s going to be a decidedly human one. For example, some of the Bible’s rules are clear and still useful; others are, when transplanted into our time and place, utterly ridiculous. Aunty believes we do best to extract the Bible’s best moral principles and apply them to our lives, while making allowance for the difference between their culture and ours.
Remember: no one but God knows all truth. So we continue to search, while exercising patience with our friends who see things differently.
Aunt Sevvy
Aunt Sevvy has collected her answers into a book! You can get it from Amazon by clicking here.
You can write to Aunt Sevvy at DearAuntSevvy@gmail.com. Your real identity will never be revealed.
